


Expiration Date

by FandomOfManyColors



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe, Death, Hurt/Comfort, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 05:37:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10757814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomOfManyColors/pseuds/FandomOfManyColors
Summary: What happens when you pass your expiration date?Dylan Johnson lives in a world where you are born with a tattoo. This tattoo tells you the day you die. It's unavoidable, and he's come to terms with his young death. That is, until the biggest event in his life didn't happen."My name is Dylan Johnson, and I was supposed to die yesterday."





	1. August 7, 2017

I've always known I would die young. I have been able to cope with it, living my life to the fullest, and all that jazz. How do I know I will die young? When a person is born, they have a certain date tattooed on their forearm. This date tells you the exact day that you die. There is no avoiding it, it'll happen eventually. My tattoo has always read the twenty first of January, 2018. It's hard to make friends, because everyone only pretends to like you. They pity you. Despite this, there are a few true people left in the world that actually like me, and don't feel bad for me. I love my life, but I came to terms with my short life span years ago. That is, until the biggest event in my life didn't come. My name is Dylan Johnson, and I was supposed to die yesterday. 

~ August 7, 2017. First day of Senior Year ~

This is it. The first day of my senior year in high school, and the last year of my life. During my freshman year of high school, I decided not to drop out my last year, and instead make it the best senior year it could be. It's not like I'll get a second chance. 

As soon as my alarm went off at 6:30, I regretted my choice. The loud, grating noise burrowed into my ears, making me groan and roll out of my cocoon of blankets. After turning the horrid thing off, I silently stared at the ceiling, thinking of what the consequences would be if I closed my eyes for ten more minutes.

I didn't get a chance to figure out the answer, due to my little brother, Liam, barging in and jumping on top of me. 

"Ugh! Get off of me; you're way to heavy, and way too old to keep doing this!" I yelled at my thirteen year old brother.

"Mom said that if you're not showered and dressed in the next twenty minutes, then I get to spray you with a water gun. Better get moving, you don't want to be wet and late on the first day!" He said, finally climbing off of me.

Pulling myself from my warm cave, I trudged to the bathroom to turn on the shower before walking to my closet to pick out my outfit for the day. I decided on my usual, ripped jeans, a plain white tee, and red converse. I quickly showered, got dressed, and fixed my hair before my brother could make good on his promise. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand, and ran downstairs to grab a quick breakfast. 

"Let's go dork! Like you said, don't want to be late on the first day!" I yelled to my brother. I kissed my mother bye, before stepping outside to start my truck. 

After dropping off Liam, I arrived at Copper Cove high. I jumped out of the car, and headed off to find Jake, my best friend since third grade. 

"DYLAN!" Someone screamed, before I almost toppled over from the sudden weight on my back. I quickly regained my footing, and held on to the flailing legs, making sure the person wouldn't fall off.

"Hey Jakey, glad to see you actually showed up this time." I teased. 

"Hey! That was one time! Anyways, I need a ride to first period. Do you mind? My legs don't work this early in the morning!" He pouted.

I chuckled and headed inside, towards Honors 12 english. This was a somewhat normal occurrence, seeing Jake get someone willing to give him a piggy back ride. After dumping him in a seat, I took my own, and started a game on my phone before the bell rang. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jake glancing uneasily at my arm. I looked down and heavily sighed.

156 days left.


	2. August 16, 2017

The thing about the tattoos is that you never know what to expect. When you reach the day of your death, you know you’re going to die, but you never know when. You don’t know how, if it will be painful or quick. All day you’re left in an awful state of mind, where everything in the world is out to get you. And the thing is, everything is. Something will get you that day, and you’re caught unprepared, not ready, and probably scared out of your mind. As much as I have accepted my due date, this is the thing i'm not looking forward to; the not knowing all day. It sounds like it sucks. A lot.   
~ August 16, 2017. Eighth day of Senior Year ~  
I think i’m finally getting back into the swing of things. I don’t want to physically harm myself as much when I hear my alarm going off, so that’s good. Jake and I have all our classes together, which means there’s never a boring day. I’m glad I have him to keep me company all the time, but I think he’s just trying to be with me as much as possible before January. I hate that i’ll leave him alone, but he will be fine. Jack gets around, he’ll make other friends.  
I set my alarm early today, because my mom wanted to have a family breakfast. I’m a little uneasy about the concept, because we have never, and I mean never, had a family breakfast. I walked down the stairs to the kitchen, where I found everyone already seated, staring at me solemnly. With the exception of Liam, of course, who was playing a noisy game on his phone. I sat down and looked at my mom, expecting a speech. Taking a deep breath, she launched into one.  
“Dylan, honey, we’re worried about you. If it was us, we’d want to leave school and do something with the rest of our life. I know I don’t need to remind you, but you don’t have many days left.” She said, slightly tearing up.  
“Son, you know we just want you to have the best life you can have. We feel like you haven’t truly accepted the tattoo.” My dad added.  
I stared at them in disbelief. They don’t know anything about my situation. They still have years and years left on their lives, I don’t even have one year left. As I got angrier, my mom decided to keep talking, despite me glaring holes through her head.   
“You know that no one ever survives that day. It’s impossible. We just want to make sure you have a healthy mindset for the last few da-”  
“Just stop! Do you hear yourselves? It’s like you’re waiting for me to die, or to leave so that you don’t have to see me! I’m not leaving, and I don’t have false hope!” I yelled, cutting off my mom. Everyone looked at me like I had two heads. My dad opened his mouth to say something, but immediately closed it afterwards.   
“Come on Liam, we can’t be late because of this bullshit.” I said before getting up and stomping outside, slamming the door behind me.   
I sped towards Liam's school, before racing to mine. Thanks to the “family breakfast” I had five minutes to get to first period. I didn't even get to eat, so now i’m hungry. Great.  
~ Lunch, 12:30 pm ~  
Once me and Jake sat down in the cafeteria, I immediately started shoving food into my mouth. Jake stared at me in disgust.  
“Dude, slow down. You’re going to choke and kill yourself. I can’t even watch you eat, it’s disgusting.”   
Wiping my mouth, i looked up apologetically. “Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to eat this morning and I’m really hungry.”  
“It’s cool, just chill out. You have time to eat it all.” He laughed. “So, did you hear that there is a new guy?” He asked excitedly.  
“What? A new guy? That literally never happens. Who is he?” I asked. At Copper Cove, there was never a new student. We’ve all known each other since birth.   
“Um, well i’ll let him introduce himself. I met him this morning and I invited him to eat lunch with us. He’s really cool, I promise!” He said.  
As soon as he finished his sentence, a chair was pulled out beside me, the scraping noise loud in my ears. I glanced over to find a short, thin guy sitting down. He had short brown hair, with blue eyes. He introduced himself as Aiden. I felt uneasy about meeting new people, never knowing the reason behind their friendship. I hate when others befriend me out of pity. I looked down at his arms, and noticed something strange. He didn’t have a tattoo.   
I quickly turned my head towards Jake, seeing that he caught me looking. He had a knowing look in his eye, and slightly nodded his head back towards Aiden.  
Not being able to keep in the question, I blurted out “How do you not have a death tattoo?’  
He chuckled, and smirked at me. “I just don’t. I don’t know when I will die, and I don’t want to know. Maybe i’m immortal, and just never die.” He joked.  
He glanced down at my arm, looking at my tattoo. He got a sad look in his eye as he read the date stamped into my skin. He looked up at me, holding my eyes on his. I broke the eye contact, and glared at the thick, black ink.   
146 days left.


End file.
